Man our league is TIGHT though. 11 teams within at most 2 games of each other, 10 teams are within 1 game of each other. Gotta bring your A game to get in the playoffs and win every week.

You're right. There's really not much separation, Ryan.

I am amazed that I dropped my first two games and then went a 5-game winning streak. I've never done that before. I've either steadily plodded along or steadily spiraled downward. To have a rough start and then make it a 5-game streak has me nervous as to when the streak ends and maybe even reverses.

One thing that has worked well for me in this league is that in the draft I got out of my comfort zone:

1.) No more Mr. Nice Guy routine for me. I stopped drafting players I normally draft, such as Andre Johnson and tier 2 QBs. Enough said.

2.) Drew Brees as the foundation of my FFL team. I was lucky enough to land Drew Brees as my QB in round 1, and that was my strategy from the get-go: Lock up the most consistent point producer, IMO, in the entire NFL. QBs only get 4 points for TDs in this league, something I detest since a QB's throw to a WR/TE/RB ought to count as 6 just like it does for WR/TE/RBs, but I digress...however, Drew Brees is always pressing for MORE.

Even when they are up, he keeps throwing on defenses. He's a killer. A cold-blooded killer out there. With how their defense has been struggling, it has helped me even more than I could have hoped for, too! He rarely has an off game, and his team usually scores a lot of points or at least throws for a lot of yards. He's regularly good for 300+ yards passing, which is 12 points and then maybe three TDs for another 12 points. Tat's 24 points, and yet he's putting up sometimes 30 points for me. Best draft I have made since drafting Larry Johnson the year Priest Holmes went I.R. and LJ took me all the way to my only FFL Super Bowl.

3.) Wes Welker. He's the Drew Brees of WRs, IMO. Consistent, an easy target for Brady, and he's mad as hell and ready to prove his worth. I have to admit that I was scared BIG TIME when he had those first two awful weeks, which I think contributed to my losses, btw, but he and the Patriots rallied to see things through and he has been V.I.P. number 2 for me. In years past, I never would have taken him as high as Round 2 like I did this year...I just never thought of him as being a big points guy in FFL But with this league being a PPR league, I went all-in and selected him in round 2 as my #1 WR.

4.) TE and D/ST Restraint. From there, I had to show restraint and not go for a big TE or a killer Defense. I let other people do that and my strategy was to get Owen Daniels in a later round, which I did. He has been phenomenal for me. Consistent producer.

5.) REGGIE WAYNE. He lasted until round s-i-x which was obscene, IMO. You all should be ashamed you did that to yourselves. When I saw he was still there, it was a no-brainer. The guy is not garbage just because Manning is not there anymore. In fact, with an accurate rookie QB in Luck it makes sense to think he's going to lean on Reggie Wayne even more. Biggest steal of the draft, IMO, and I snuck into all of your homes and robbed ya' blind.

Overall, I filled in with some RBs who are not world-beaters but who are good for around 10 points-per-game. Stud QB, Stud WR1, Quasi-Stud WR2, decent RB1 and RB2, Stud TE, and then fill in with weekly waiver wire acquisitions for defense based on match ups.